Meet Brandon Drake | Functional Nutrition Coach & Therapeutic Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brandon Drake and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brandon, looking back, what do you think was the most difficult decision you’ve had to make?
Quitting my stable job to reinvest in my new career through education. People thought I was crazy to quit a stable and good paying job to restart my career. But I only have one life and I want to make it count by doing something that is rewarding and meaningful. I attended holistic nutrition & culinary arts school then functional nutrition school and then in digital marketing school. I had to start all over again, sacrifice relationships, sacrifice days going out to socialize, sacrifice my passion for travel because all my finances were going to my new career that was now my top priority. It worked out in the end because it made me re-prioritize the more important things in life to invest in, which is food and health because without that how can I create long-lasting relations for the important people in my life?

What should our readers know about your business?
As a functional nutrition coach and therapeutic chef at HeartfulFoods I teach you how to create a personalized lifestyle using food, nutrition, and behavior concepts. I believe you are doing yourself a disservice by following some one size fits all dietary fad. We’re all unique and therefore we deserve to be equipped with knowledge to create a lifestyle that is conducive to your long-term health success. I focus on people that have metabolic problems. Many people are unknowingly damaging their metabolism and if they continue to lead this type of lifestyle it can turn into the common disorders many westerners experience like heart attack, stroke, diabetes, prediabetes, insulin resistance just to name a few disorders associated with metabolic damage. What motivates me to help people like this is that these chronic disorders have impacted my family resulting in death. Now that I’m equipped with the knowledge to help others I don’t want other families to have to go through all the pain and anguish my family went through. So I treat those I help as family. I’m going to be fair but stern. Some days they might not like me but most days they know I’m doing it for their best interests and therefore respect me for all my hard work. What excites me is opening people eye’s to new foods and behaviors that help to manage and/or resolve their health issues. The fact that I’ve helped them become addicted to health is what inspires me and makes me addicted to what I do. Changing someone’s perspective one day at a time is what motivates me daily to wake up early and do my job because I know I know the knowledge I share can make a difference. As for what sets me apart from others, I’d have to say that my computer information systems background mixed with my culinary and nutritional background is a mix of skill sets that allows me to be a valuable asset. In my corporate career I was always analyzing data that was boring and meaningless. Now I get to use my analytical skills along with my nutrition and culinary skills to analyze important data that matters, which is someone’s health and well-being. Having the technical, culinary, and nutritional knowledge has allowed me to create my own online health education platform where people log into to a 3 week health program. In the program they get access to all my food and nutrition course material in form of all my created resources from my created food and nutrition videos, toxic reduction guides, recipe guides, meal plans, shopping lists, daily protocol directions, cooking tips, and more. They have 3 months access to do a 3 week program. But I’m constantly adding new material because I want to provide value to the clients that I serve. Getting to where I want to be at right now was not easy. First it started with me changing my way of thinking. First I was very frugal with my finances and wasn’t into financial risk or spending money on myself. I let go of this mindset when I realized that it’s necessary to invest in myself if I’m’ going to progress forward and not stay stagnant. After holistic nutrition and culinary arts school, I thought I was done paying tuition, but I wanted to become more valuable asset to my clientele and to further business growth so I had to spend money on additional education of functional nutrition school and digital marketing school. Without dishing out that money I would have never progressed in business and been where I am at today. I am no where near a finished product but now my perspective on spending money has changed for the better.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in place called Laguna Beach, CA which is pretty much beach town USA. We have a free shuttle that goes up and down Pacific Coast Highway so I’d go with my friend on the shuttle to show them all the beaches, hidden and popular tourist spots, along Pacific Coast Highway. Because I’m into cooking tasty and healthy meals I’d probably make food and snacks so we’re always equipped with food on our beach nature journeys. One thing I like to do with my friend is to cook with them because it today’s society we are dominated with the convenient foods. Preparing a meal together to me is very therapeutic. Also, I live near a popular hiking train called “Top of the World”. There is one location where all tourists go to take pictures because it overlooks a lot of the Orange County. Yes we’d do that but beyond that main hike there are tons of other trails to hike along so there is a way to go the road/trail less traveled. As for restaurants I’m not into eating out because I’ve had to intern at restaurants and my experience has turned me off about dining away from home. But if my friend wanted to eat out there are plenty of restaurants along the beach with beautiful views. To summarize my one week trip would be filled with homemade meals, seeing nature daily at the beach or the mountains, and hanging out at relaxing beachside restaurants

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My mom in particular deserves lots of credit. She can be very critical of her kids but she is that way because she wants the best in us. When I quit my job to focus purely on school her natural motherly nature told me to stay with her temporarily to save money. At first I didn’t want to but realized it wasn’t financially smart since I wasn’t working at the time. Also, all my peers in schooling I’ve met over the years that I keep in touch with continually inspire me and have shaped the type of person I am today. I’ve drastically changed by surrounding myself with health minded professionals and it’s been for the better. I’ve had to expose myself by facing my fears of public speaking because I never liked being the center of attention. But as an entrepreneur fending for yourself is a matter of survival. You have to recognize your weaknesses and face your fears head on. I have to give Happy Neighborhood Project so much credit for allowing me to present myself in front of hundreds of people daily constantly practicing my craft of public speaking. If I never changed careers I would have never grown so much as a person.

Website: https://shop.heartfulfoods.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartfulfoodsforreal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandondrakeheartfulfoods/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartfulFoods

Other: Blog: http://heartfulfoods.com/